


Like Me, and Unlike Me

by Azzie_Tangerine



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Also the only reason Prince FluffxKirby is implied once is because I love them, And Bee Sectonia was abusive, Because I do whoops, But SusiexTaranza is just as valid, Canonical Character Death, Either no one has done this yet or I'm just not original., F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, I like MagolorxTaranza too don't get me wrong, If it isn't obvious there's a lot of hurt/comfort, Is it obvious I love writing, Kirby Triple Deluxe, Multi, Only because that's how I interpeted it sorry, Or maybe I'm just a multishipper, Other, Post-Kirby of the Stars: Robobo Planet | Kirby: Planet Robobot, Susie's allergic to pollen, Taranza has depression and low self-esteem, That's just a headcanon I find funny, Why is everyone sleeping on SusiexTaranza, by the way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24968311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azzie_Tangerine/pseuds/Azzie_Tangerine
Summary: Taranza hasn't moved on from Sectonia. That bit is obvious. He still mourns her, he still thinks negatively, he still requires comfort when he cries. It doesn't help that when Kirby offers to have Susie help Floralia for some time, he starts comparing this new acquaintance to his old crush, resulting in an attraction that doesn't feel completely organic or healthy. But, hey, Susie's new machine will totally be the thing to fix all his problems and last mistakes!...Instead, he ends up learning way more about Susie than he had expected.
Relationships: Abusive Queen Sectonia/ Taranza, Implied Prince Fluff/Kirby (Kirby), Max Profitt Haltmann & Susie | Susanna Patrya Haltmann, Susie | Susanna Patrya Haltmann & Taranza, Susie | Susanna Patyra Haltmann/Taranza, Taranza & Kirby
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	Like Me, and Unlike Me

**Author's Note:**

> What's with me and writing stories out of spite because there weren't any more fanfics about them?  
> -Someone who is a multishipper and could just read other ships.

It was all his fault.

All that stupid, loveable circle of friendship; Kirby’s fault.

He just _had_ to be so nice and helpful.

He had to save people, and be all, ‘Oh, she would be a nice help for Floralia while she got back onto her two feet!’ and how ‘you could always use more help and friends!’

Taranza gripped his main two eyes shut for a split second, feeling a small splash of frustration for the younger boy. It diminished within moments, however, since he was never someone with serious anger issues. Besides...Kirby didn’t do it of ill intent.

Once those plain white eyes opened again, he went back to the big tool box in front of him. Every object was an equal distance of the other, and their place was sure to be marked with tape underneath. Nice and organized...something Taranza himself would never take the time to do.

It had been so long since he last heard her voice. He wasn’t sure how long. Two years? No, less than that.

18 months. Yeah, that felt more like it. 

Every day he thought of his dear queen. She was his best friend, after all. Even when she became a dictator. Taranza could go on and on about how it was his fault Sectonia died in the end, but honestly. He already did that every day. 

At this rate, he wouldn’t be surprised if everyone was annoyed of comforting him at this point.

...But it was okay, he is recovering.

It is all going great, he is sort of the new “ruler” of Floralia. He did not have the heart nor confidence to call himself the “king” of the place, he was more like a temporary babysitter until someone better offered to take over. But for now, the citizens did come to him for problems, like they did for Sectonia. Floralia in general is slowly rebuilding back to what it used to be, and while Taranza's negative thinking wasn't gone, he tried his best to not believe it. It didn't work, but he was trying. Before long, hopefully the kingdom and himself could finally forget about that spider turned bee…

He is doing fine.

…

Well…

He _was_ doing fine.

Until he met _her._

He was doing fine, not perfect, but still. Taranza was doing fine until Kirby showed up. At first, Taranza had thought it was just a friend visiting a friend...by now he wished that was the case.

No, Kirby started talking about how he ‘defeated a crazy guy who wanted to turn Popstar into a robot’, and how that guy had a daughter. She apparently needed something to do while she recovered from the incident, and Kirby had the AMAZING idea and said “Hey! Her technology would be great for Floralia! You mind if she stays here for a bit?”

It could never beat him giving Sectonia that dimensional mirror, but it was nearing that line of “worst decisions the dear old Taranza has made”.

That one decision caused this daughter, who owned the name of Susie, to help with reformation of Floralia. She now occupied the guest room in Royal Road Castle, and it had also caused her to have Taranza help her with inventions. Not of force, of course. It just felt like something nice to do, after all she was staying in Secto- well… guess it was his castle now. 

Er, that statement was terrible to think about.

It was fine at first, until he started noticing the similarities between Susie and the old Sectonia. They were nice, smart, had a bit of anger problems (that last one might be more of the bee Sectonia...but…) and they both had that soothing comfort in their voices.

That sounded weirder than Taranza was trying to put it. 

Just… they both had beautiful voices…

Ah forget it. 

Point being, he found himself attracted to Susie within a month of her living in the castle. He couldn’t help it, and he absolutely dreaded that. Not only did it start because she reminded him of someone else, but it reminded him just how awful it felt to be in love.

“Bowler?”

Taranza was shoved out of his head, thank Nova, when he heard someone call out to him. Yeah, Susie had a thing with nicknames. That seemed to be the only thing right now that Taranza knew differinted her from Sectonia. Besides their looks… 

Why did she call him “Bowler”? Taranza guessed because of his bowl cut hairstyle. Considering she constantly brought that feature of him up.

He looked back to his white and orange gloves, remembering what he was doing in the first place. Glancing to the tool box, he then focused on the eyes behind his head to look at the direction of the other’s voice, which was a whole room full of Susie’s supplies. 

Many of the robotics were proof of what happened recently, as each seemed to be damaged in their own way. The robotics ranged from a lump of objects, to things that slightly looked like real world objects, for example the clock-similar thing across from him, or even the gun that unsafely rested on a table instead of anywhere else. It was weird, but worked with the walls of the Floralia castle. It had a mechanical feel, yet at the same time the room was decorated with pinks and little bows, somewhat rummaged curtains glittered with sparkles, and also dressy like robes hanging behind the main door frame. The mechanic feeling plus girly girl attitude seemed to clash with Taranza at first, and was certainly not what he expected when he first told Susie she could personalize the guest room. But the girl part of it reminded him of Sectonia, and after that he grew to like the diversity.

He closed his four front eyes to focus even better, and his back eyes finally rested in the center of the room. Susie was there with a bunch of metal and screws, and she was kneeled down on...whatever she was working on. Taranza was slightly confused, based on the diversity of the other objects he would’ve suspected that this invention wouldn’t have been a cylinder shaped tube. Just like the last one he helped with… or the last few.

Eh, Taranza didn’t even know what any of their purposes were, so who was he to judge.

Based on how she was sitting, she had the capability of getting what she needed, and was probably used to doing so. But since Taranza was just so nice he couldn’t help but come to this room to help.

Kirby better be happy.

He opened his four front eyes, looking at each tool once again. “Remind me of what you needed?” Taranza called out. 

“A wrench!”

Taranza nodded, even if he knew she couldn’t see him. He picked out the sight of the wrench from the others, but when one of his floating hands reached to grab it, he seemed to have a small moment of hesitation.

What if he messed something up in the process?

He was famous for messing stuff up.

He gulped, before forcing his hand to grab the wrench and pull it away from its comfort. It left it’s marking on the box itself, and he winced when he saw that he moved the nearest tool just a mini-centimeter. He let another hand go and moved it back, but it ended up with the perfection being completely ruined with even more tools moving from their spots.

Taranza bit his lower lip with his fangs, feeling himself tremble in a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. He turned his head to Susie’s direction, whimpering slightly. 

Good job, Taranza. You messed up! As usual!

She will be mad at you for messing up her work of art.

Why are you such a screw up?!

You can't even grab a tool correctly?!

SHUT UP!

Taranza let his fangs release themselves, and let in a breath before floating over to Susie. His hand gripped the wrench as he moved it closer to her pretty pink hair. “Here-”

Susie grabbed the wrench very quickly, making Taranza flinch. “Thanks, Bowler.”

Taranza let out a small whimper as he floated back, Susie using the wrench on a specific part of the mechanic. He forced himself to take another deep breath. 

She probably hates you...

...Quit the negative thinking.

You can fix the tools right now!

Not only would that probably make him feel better about his mistakes, but maybe Susie wouldn't notice if he was quick about it.

Sighing, Taranza floated towards the tool box again, letting two of his hands reach under its pink foundation. Grunting in frustration, he lifted the tool box up, letting his other free hands reach into the box to move each and every tool back to their marked spot.

The room was silent besides the squeaking of a wrench screwing something into place, and for the first time Taranza wanted to break it. Usually, he would tell himself to mind his own business, but he wanted to speak more than he usually did. He couldn’t help but blame his thoughts of comparing Sectonia and Susie to be the reason why he had this urge.

“...So… what are we building?” Taranza flinched. “I mean, what are _you_ building?”

Susie didn’t seem to notice the mistake, either that or she didn’t care. Taranza moved the last tool back into place, and started wondering if she just wasn’t going to answer him. Until, after many moments of silence, she did.

“My father’s company had the mechanics to create clones. I’ve adjusted those blueprints to see if it not only could bring back a body that doesn’t act like a robot like other projects did, but memories too, even ones that the passed user might’ve forgotten by the time of their death.”

“Long story short, I’m trying to make something that could bring back the dead.”

The loud sound of multiple small pieces of metal hitting the floor rang around the room, and it seemed to have shaken Susie enough to turn her entire attention away from the project to the spider sorcerer in the same room as her. Taranza’s hands had dropped the toolbox when those words processed in his head, and they seemed to just hang in the same spots like they were still holding the box. All of Taranza’s eyes were wide, and even if the back eyes could see Susie, he still turned his head to look at her with his main two eyes.

Usually, Taranza would’ve screamed at himself for making a mess, but he was more curious about this project now. “...Really?” he asked.

Susie stared at Taranza, and Taranza couldn’t help but notice the determination that sparkled in her blue eyes. Taranza had seen a lot of blue eyes before, but something about Susie’s sparked that familiar feeling of butterflies in his stomach. 

But he quickly ignored it.

Susie nodded, and she turned back to the project. Taranza floated out near when she stood, looking at the blue paperwork that laid on the ground. Sure enough, as she had said, blueprints of past machinery were shown. He could tell for not only did certain parts of it look like the machines that he had helped Susie with in the past, including the one they were currently on, but coffee stains showed that they were somewhat old. It gave Taranza a bit of concern, as it easily proved that Susie was working on these a lot more than Taranza originally thought. 

The paper in the center had what Taranza figured to be the blueprints for the actual machine. Some sketches were crossed out, and so were some equations about the science behind them. Another thing that proves that the last projects Taranza helped with were for the exact same purpose. But it was obvious that those copies had failed, enough for Susie to scrap them completely.

...Was she really doing this for Floralia?

Taranza’s heart quickened.

Imagine if this actually worked. They could bring Sectonia back! Not only that, but perhaps they could bring the Sectonia before Taranza messed everything up! That would solve everything! Floralia would have a stable, non-dictator ruler again, and Taranza could stop putting himself down about all of his mistakes! He could finally move on!

…

Of course, it wouldn’t exactly be moving on.

...He’d just be getting back something that would distract him…

If anything, having the old Sectonia back would only remind him of how badly he messed up, and make his thinking even worse. And he’d definitely keep the past few years all a secret from her, only harming him more than anything…

Taranza blinked, moving one gloved hand so that it was pointing at a mathematical equation written on the newest blueprint. “That should be 36.”

Susie turned her head, looking confused. “...Excuse me?”

“You put down 34,” Taranza explained, moving his hand towards the list of dozens of numbers slightly above the number 34. The numbers were listed as if they were multiplied and divided together for a result, and Taranza could safely assume that the 34 below it was the result she had gotten. “Dividing the 72 by two would equal 36, not 34.”

Susie moved herself so she was sitting next to Taranza, and he felt himself shift uncomfortably. “Unless that was intentional! I could be wrong, I tend to be wrong- I shouldn’t have said anything- I don't know anything- sorry-”

Susie looked across the work she did, before grabbing her pencil. “No, you’re right.” She scribbled out the number 34, as well as the calculations underneath that very number. “No wonder I was having trouble- nice eye!” She looked at Taranza, and even if she didn’t have a mouth, Taranza could sense a playful smile. “Or, should I say eyes?”

Taranza laughed as his heart rate sped up even faster. “It was nothing! I’m sure your eyes are way better… prettier…than mine.”

Susie stared at him, rubbing the bags underneath her eyes.

...

Why did he say that?!

Shaking his head, he floated a little away. “I’m sure anyone could’ve found the mistake!”

Susie’s eyes shifted, and she went back to the machinery. What brought Taranza’s shock was her snapping her right fingers, before pointing next to herself. 

Taranza didn’t quite understand what she was intending. Within a few moments, the thought clicked. He wasn’t sure if that was what she was asking, and even seemed hesitant to act on it.

Nodding, despite Susie again not being able to see it, he floated over so that he was right next to the pink haired mechanic. Susie unscrewed a couple screws, before pointing her empty hand towards the other side of the tube like machine. Taranza nodded in understanding, moving his hands underneath that exact spot so that it didn’t fall over while Susie was working.

"Do you always talk so lowly about yourself…?" Susie asked as she worked.

Taranza shifted. "It's not exactly… Talking lowly if it's true…" He shook his head. "Sorry- it's something I'm working on."

Susie didn't answer, focusing fully onto the machine again. The room fell into a silence, and Taranza could only look towards the blueprints before Susie spoke again, taking Taranza by surprise.

“Thank you.” The girl spoke out, screwing underneath the surface of the project.

“Hm?”

“You know, for helping out.” Susie moved her head slightly so that her sparkling eyes could look at Taranza’s. Taranza almost dropped the machine. 

Taranza glanced away. “Well… I should be thanking you.” he thought back to what the machine was going to do when it was complete. 

Sure, he wouldn’t be moving on naturally.

But Sectonia coming back would be more good than bad.

Right?

Smiling, he looked back to Susie. “You’re a lot sweeter than I thought you would be.”

Susie chuckled slightly. “Sure…”

✥✥✥

Watching the sun fall past the nearby clouds, Taranza felt himself breath out a sigh.

He rested three of his hands on the windowsill, letting the slight breeze ruffle his short silver hair. Once the sun was fully gone from sight, Taranza turned around. Scanning what was once Sectonia’s beautiful room, his gaze weakened.

He could almost hear her voice…

Her laughs.

Her hands urging Taranza to see a specific flower in her garden.

That Sectonia had been gone way longer than her body had been… and Taranza still felt like he was experiencing her body's death yesterday.

How she had knocked him out of the castle, finally breaking the little manipulations she had placed on him. How Kirby’s penguin friend came to him, despite Taranza being the one who kidnapped him, asking Taranza to help them. Taranza throwing that hypernova fruit towards the at the moment unconscious Kirby. And finally, watching as the bee he once was best friends with withering in front of each and every one of his eyes. Staring in absolute horror as those bright pink eyes slowly dimmed, and almost every flower in vicinity started to die out. Despite all the insults she gave him as a bee, despite the manipulating behaviors she showed, and despite this Sectonia being nothing like the one he loved. He still stood there, paralyzed.

In that moment, Taranza remembered imagining _his_ Sectonia in the husk’s place. The one who became a monster because of him. Because of his mistakes.

Taranza felt his face stinging with pain, which brought him out of his little trance. Feeling the side of his face, he pulled his glove away to see it soaked with tears. He noticed that he was biting his lower lip, and once he released his fangs, the pain went away. Quickly drying his face, he shook his head as the urge of leaving the castle appeared.

No more grieving.

Taranza’s eyes narrowed, before loosening up again. Turning his attention towards Sectonia’s old desk, he grabbed the prettiest object on top of it; a flower that had specifically been attached to Sectonia that day. The only to have not died out before Taranza found it.

It tortured himself staying here, but Taranza forced himself to keep it, at least until it eventually wilted. And he was glad he did, since it not only hadn’t wilted completely over time, but it was the only thing that could potentially still have Sectonia’s DNA.

Susie told him earlier today that the machine was complete, and if he was genuinely interested in seeing if it worked, to visit her later that day. That was the first time that Susie offered Taranza to come over, instead of him just asking to. In this were a different situation, he would be questioning if that meant she wanted to be closer to him. 

Holding the flower close to his chest, he left the room, letting the big decorated door slowly close itself. 

So, if it really worked, that meant Sectonia could possibly be around again. Starting tonight.

Like he said, that meant no more grieving.

He’d finally stop crying all the time, he’d finally not need the comfort of other people.

He can finally be a good friend to Kirby and the other dreamland friends. People like Magolor wouldn’t need to check up on him to see if he was okay. And he could finally be less depressed.

If that was possible. 

As he neared Susie’s room, he found himself instinctively fixing his hair and scarf. He scolded himself immediately.

With Sectonia here, he could finally stop comparing Susie to her, and this attraction could finally leave. Nothing against Susie of course, but it would be for the better. She was obviously not interested in him.

...Right?

No. Unlike Kirby, he knew the difference between playful joking and flirting. For someone who constantly made mistakes, he was grateful to at least know Kirby's prince friend was trying to flirt with him during visits, while Kirby was oblivious. That one talk with Susie could be debated, but she didn’t seem interested.

Which. Of course.

Taranza was hoping too much.

Groaning, he let one gloved hand run through his hair. He was like that with Sectonia too. The sooner Sectonia came back, the better it would be for both Floralia and these dumb feelings.

Besides, why would Susie like someone who made so many mistakes like him?

As he neared the door, he found nothing but confusion. Moving his head against the wall, he could hear heavy breathing on the other side.

...Was this a bad time?

After moments of that sound, the large BANG of a gunshot made Taranza flinch immensely, dropping his flower onto the ground. He even let out a noise he wouldn’t dare ever do again. Panic and a hint of protectiveness taking over his system, he flung open the door instead of knocking, two hands charging up an energy ball out of instinct and his eyes looking around for Susie.

“What happened?! Is there an intruder!?” 

However, he got even more confusion seeing that Susie was not shooting her gun at a possible enemy. Nothing of the sorts. In fact, nothing around the room even hinted to an intruder in the first place.

If that was the case… why was she…?

Taranza finally found Susie in the center of the room, still shooting her gun. The spider noticed how it was angled downward, and the ground around that area had hints of metal, glass, and hints of soot that most likely came from her gun. That was when Taranza noticed she was not shooting at a living thing, instead a familiar hunk of machinery.

Wait.

That was the key to Sectonia’s revival!

“SUSIE!” He shouted, feeling so distressed that he seemed to appear by her shoulder instantly. Seeing the pink glowing spiderwebs clinging around him, he could assume that he had teleported to her thanks to his rush of worry, which really… wasn’t necessary. “What are you doing!? Stop!”

He placed his hand onto her shoulder, which resulted in her whipping herself around to face him, aiming her gun straight in between his main two eyes.

Taranza screamed, holding his empty hands up in the air. He realized that two of his hands were still holding an energy orb, which probably didn’t help his situation. Quickly letting the energy fuse back into his gloves, he whimpered slightly. “Susie?” 

Susie slowly lowered her gun, noticing who it was. Now that she wasn’t completely ready for murder, Taranza could look closely at her. She was wearing one of the sparkling robes Taranza saw against the door, which Taranza could definitely admit was beautiful on her, matching with her blue eyes. Her wonderful hair that was usually pulled back with a headband was loose and completely frizzed. The bags Taranza noticed before seemed darker, and her blue eyes seemed to hold way too many emotions at once, as if she had been bottling up negative emotions for quite some time, to the point that they exploded outward.

Taranza was about to speak out the immense amount of questions he had. The ones with worry, the ones with confusion and even the ones with rare fury.

But… he couldn’t. Because before he could even say a single word he heard the sound of metal dropping onto the ground. Putting his attention back to Susie, he watched as she fell to her knees, gripping strands of her hair as her body began shaking. Her breathing started to quicken, and she hung her head down in complete shame.

“I failed.” Was all Susie could say before all her negative emotions took over, leaving her with nothing but loud cries escaping her. 

The sobbing immediately struck into Taranza’s chest, and he could only stare in pure shock as the girl cried into her floating hands. The tears became too much for the barriers to handle, and began leaking through her gloves and onto the ground. Her whimpers and whines copied complete distress, to the point when Susie started punching the ground, it was weak and full of tiredness.

Taranza wasn’t sure what to do. _He_ was the one who always got the comforting, not the other way around! What was he supposed to do?! What was he supposed to say?!

Floating down towards the sobbing girl, Taranza’s hands began to shake when he attempted to move one towards her. Moving his hands back towards his coat, he glanced towards the ground, which looked like someone had spilled water all around them.

...How could he even start?!

He had no idea how to do this.

He would just mess up!

…But he couldn’t just leave Susie like this!

How did Magolor do this?!

He let one hand rest on her shoulder again, which got a flinch and Susie’s attention. Taranza should've learned from earlier that the quick action wasn't appropriate right now.

Her blue eyes didn’t glow at all, and even seemed to dull from crying and lack of sleep. It hurt Taranza again, but he forced himself to speak. “Hey, there’s no reason to cry!” He managed to make himself a genuine, not stressed smile, thinking of what could make her feel better. “We can always try again…?”

That did the exact opposite Taranza wanted. Susie pushed Taranza’s hand away and let her shaking overcome her again. “I’ve ALREADY tried again! Four times!” 

Taranza bit his lower lip again as she began to cry even harder than before. 

Good job Taranza!

Another example of how you mess up!

Next time, let's give her a mirror to curse her forever!

Glancing from side to side, he thought back to the queen that was dead because of him. It was rather selfish, but they were so close to fixing his biggest mistake! “Maybe… fifth time’s a charm?”

Susie shook her head rather weakly, continuing to sob very loudly.

Taranza wanted to hit himself. 

That’s not helping her!

Quit bringing the project up!

Why couldn't Magolor be here, he was better with comforting than he was!

Susie’s body continued shaking, and she started heavily breathing. “It’s no use…” She gave the ground one last punch before she hugged herself. Taranza could see her distraught even if he was miles away. “I can’t do it anymore… he really isn’t ever going to come back…” She looked up to Taranza, seeing her tears rushing from her eyes and hitting the edges of her robe. “In Nova’s name! I miss my dad!”

Taranza was physically taken aback when Susie grabbed the sorcerer spider, gripping the other tightly in a hug as she started crying again. Taranza gasped out for air as her hug seemed tough enough to strangle a knight, despite her looking weak just minutes before. 

Her words made him instantly forget about Sectonia.

Placing a hand on her back, he made sure he had his breath back before speaking. “Your… your dad?” he asked out, his voice quiet and having a hint of wheezing.

He remembered Kirby mentioning him, and Taranza cursed at himself for immediately thinking about Sectonia that day instead of what Susie could’ve been thinking.

Another mistake.

He really shouldn't be surprised at this point.

Taranza forced himself to quit thinking like that.

Susie slowly loosened her grip, letting Taranza breath normally again. Taranza felt her nod, trembling slightly. “I miss him so much…” She sniffed before crying again. “I want him back... It’s my fault he’s… gone…” 

The spider’s white eyes went wide, and slowly after his orange smaller eyes did the same.

That hit Taranza way too close to home.

In fact, he could almost hear himself saying it to Magolor. About himself missing Sectonia, how he wanted her back… and how it was his fault.

Usually, he thought his own thoughts were true… So if Susie was feeling similar…?

Shoving his thoughts deep down temporarily, he nudged Susie away. “Come on.” He spoke, floating upwards like he was standing up. 

Susie looked at him as he did, clearly looking upset to not have something to hug anymore.

Holding his hand up as an offer, Taranza made sure to smile comfortingly. “When I’m upset, I prefer to leave the castle.”

Besides, maybe staying away from this room might help…

Susie seemed skeptical at first, but within a few moments she wiped her eyes with one hand and took Taranza’s hand with her other. Taranza didn’t like the feeling of moisture his glove felt, but forced himself to shove it down this once.

Taranza closed his eyes briefly, and within moments he opened them again, now seeing the views of Royal Road in his vision. His back eyes could see the entrance to the Floralia Castle, which proved to Taranza that he had teleported in the right place. 

He wiped off some glowing spiderwebs off his cape, before realizing that Susie was clutching onto his right side. His heart raced like a thousand drums, and he used one of his hands to tap her shoulder and get her attention. 

Susie opened her eyes, letting go of Taranza afterwards. She picked off some spiderwebs that hung in her hair, seeming disgusted as she shook it off.

Taranza gazed away. “Sorry, I don’t know why that happens.” Two of his hands went through his hair, but he soon stopped and beckoned the girl onward. 

The girl silently followed, speaking for the first time in quite a while, which definitely brought Taranza some shock. “You... can teleport?” 

Her voice was still trembling and quiet, but Taranza could definitely tell she was trying to distract herself.

“Yeah…” Taranza squinted his eyes in the darkness. If only spiders had better night vision. He summoned a mini energy ball in one of his hands, holding it out so he could at least see a little better. “Not by long distances. I learned it because I thought it would be cool, but if I’m honest,” he chuckled slightly. “Nothing I do is cool.”

Susie didn’t laugh back.

As the two walked, Susie kept close to Taranza, most likely because of the light. It didn’t help Taranza, however. Glancing around, he decided to break the silence. “Where would you feel most comfortable to go?” One hand rested on his chin, and another hand snapped its fingers. “I tend to go to the garden, how about that?”

“I’m allergic to pollen.” Susie replied.

Taranza laughed. “Right. Of course you are.” That was unlike himself, he loved flowers. Well, at least used to, nowadays he found himself uncomfortable or thinking about Sectonia whenever he looked at a pink flower.

The spider shook his head. 

As they continued walking, Susie stopped Taranza, pointing straight ahead. “That’s… an okay spot…”

Taranza looked towards Susie’s hand, seeing that she was pointing towards the edge of Royal Road’s clouds. A bench sat near it, with its backboard against the endless sky, which would be a great place to sit.

The two arrived towards the bench, Taranza glancing down towards the other floating areas of Floralia, before sitting right next to Susie.

Susie wrapped her robe closer to her, and she stared straight ahead at the view. The castle and other buildings covered the night sky, but still left a rather pleasant view to look at. Taranza was relieved that it wasn’t a cold night, and smiled as the warm atmosphere let him focus more on the views around him instead.

Letting the energy ball once again fuse back into his hand, he finally rested against the bench. “What would make this view a lot better would be if we could see the sky more. I love looking at the stars.”

“I don’t.” Susie muttered. “It reminds me of all the years I spent in Another Dimension.”

Taranza clenched one of his fists. 

Way to go, Taranza.

Yet another mistake.

“Before that, my dad was different.” Taranza blinked and looked back to Susie. “We were close, but after I got sent to Another Dimension he… changed. He lost it, to the point he didn’t… recognize me.” Susie let one hand mess with her hair. “But he wasn’t all gone, Bowler. I knew he still remembered me somewhere, and I thought if I became a spy… and got rid of that machine he would finally snap out of it.”

Taranza nodded, however not completely sure how that plan would work out in the end.

“...Then I messed up.” Susie clenched her sides. “I messed up terribly. I took the one thing that could’ve saved him from that monster of a machine…” Her eyes began growing misty again, which resulted in her sniffing and having tears leak down her face. “If I hadn’t… my father would still be alive… because I was so stupid-” she started to cry again. “He’s gone because of me… and I can’t even do the one thing to be able to forgive myself…”

As Susie broke into a sob again, Taranza couldn’t help but stare down at his white and gold gloves. He clenched bits of his cape, glancing around from side to side.

What she said reminded him so much of himself… and the things he said before. The things he thought now. It surprised him, and also made Taranza’s heart very unsure of how to feel.

This whole time knowing her, he had been comparing and contrasting her to Sectonia…

But she wasn’t just like Sectonia.

She was like himself…

Yet, at the same time, her skills in robotics and love for girly objects, made her so unlike Taranza at the same time.

Taranza looked back to Susie, placing a hand on her shoulder again. This time, he did it a lot slower, and in response Susie didn't react as badly as the first two times. She glanced over to Taranza, who’s eyes all seemed to be looking at different areas as he considered what to say.

Deciding on what to do, he took a deep breath.

“I… know how you feel.” Taranza stated, Susie looking over to him. He drew his hand back before looking towards Royal Road’s castle. “I lost someone too.”

Susie blinked, looking a little frustrated, which Taranza could feel.

“I don’t mean to belittle your issue!” Taranza waved three of his hands in defense. “I just wanted to say that I… can relate. Because I often think… about how I caused her death.”

The pink haired girl loosened up, and she even seemed to loosen up on crying. “You...did?”

“I still do.” Taranza sighed, noticing Susie adjusting herself so that she could fully face Taranza rather than the view. She brought the robe closer to her again, before resting her hands on her lap. She was probably expecting him to elaborate…

Great.

...Well... she did tell him about her dad. And he did bring it up.

He glanced upwards, trying to cran his head to see the night sky without hurting his rather small neck. “We used to have a queen here, and she was the sweetest queen in the world. I was one of her servants, but we were also best friends. She would plant various flowers all around, and never turned a blind eye to a citizen who needed assistance…”

The spider quickly turned his head to look over to Susie as she muttered. “She sounded wonderful.”

Taranza looked away again. “She was…” Looking back upwards, he started explaining again. “One day I decided to give her a gift, in a way to try and give her the sign that I… was into her.” One of the eyes on his forehead looked to Susie again, who was still listening. She would still have tears fall like rain every once in a while, and her gaze was still rather conflicted. “I decided to give her the Dimensional Mirror, not knowing what it was at the time.”

He found his breath beginning to shake, but he forced himself to calm down and continue. “The mirror corrupted her, to put it bluntly. She became a dictator because of me, hurting everyone in Floralia. And before I could fully process it… she started, saying things to me. Insults and exploits to keep me by her side… and me, being devastated and already blaming myself, fell for it…” Taranza explained, all of his hands clenching.

“She left me no choice but to help Kirby destroy her before she could do more damage. And even if she wasn’t the same one I fell in love with… It still hurts thinking about it…And it proved to me just how much of a screw up I am…"

Turning back to Susie again, he blinked when he noticed her growing slightly concerned. That was when he noticed his own tears. Laughing slightly, he used the thumbs of two of his hands to quickly wipe them away. “That happens often, don’t worry about it.” He tried to keep his tone lighthearted, but his voice still had a hint of trembling and breaking.

Susie glanced down to her hands. “How did you stop the pain?”

Taranza shifted, taking a few seconds due to him not knowing what to say.

“...If I’m being honest, I’m still trying to figure that out.” 

“...Oh…”

Taranza let one hand rummage through his hair. “But I do know one thing…” He took another deep breath. “If that machine worked, it wouldn’t help us in the slightest. As much as we hoped it would. I know you think it could fix everything… but it’d just distract us from it… and that pain would never truly leave with a constant reminder of our mistakes.”

He heard Susie slightly chuckle, and she wiped more tears. “I’d most likely want to hide what happened to him, anyways…”

“Me too.” Taranza chuckled back. “Well, for the queen…” Glancing around, he slightly smiled. “I do know that we’ll be able to move on, and it might hurt a lot… but it’ll get better… eventually.” Fidgeting with his scarf, he added. “We just need to put some work into it as well, like let ourselves forgive… well, ourselves.”

Those were things Magolor had told him before, and even Kirby. If Kirby was saying it too, then surely it must be true, no matter what his head said…?

“...You think I can do that?”

Taranza’s smile grew a little wider. “I might not know you as much as others… but I have a good feeling.”

Susie wiped the last tear away, and her eyes glowed a bit. 

The two sat there for a few moments, before Susie started messing with her hair again. Taranza stared at Susie as she stood up from the bench, wiping her robes in case the bench had dust. “I think I’m ready to go back to the castle now.”

The spider let himself follow. “You sure?”

Susie sighed, moving her hair so that it was behind her back like usual. “Yeah, I need to clean up that mess anyways.”

Taranza was about to offer his help, knowing Kirby would have pushed him to do so, but Susie spoke again before he could. “And it’d probably be best if you went to bed now so that you could do those royal duties effectively.”

Nodding, Taranza summoned another small energy ball. “That’s probably right…” he muttered, not being too fond of the words “you” and “royal duties” in the same sentence.

As he led the way towards the castle, Susie followed right behind him, holding the sparkly robe close to her body. They were silent, until they reached the castle entrance. Taranza released the ball, before offering Susie his hand again.

Susie placed her hand on his pretty fastly, and within moments they both appeared back inside Susie’s room, with only a few bits of spider webs appearing around him. 

Taranza fixed his scarf again, looking around the room, to the mess of machinery they left before.

“Thank you.”

Taranza looked to Susie, who had moved her gun back onto her desk. Smiling, he did a small wave with one hand as his heart fluttered. “It was no problem… it was nice to know that I’m not alone.”

Susie nodded. “...Me too.” She was silent for a minute, before speaking again. "You're a lot better than what you say about yourself, and what… she used to say."

"It'll take some effort to fully believe that… But thank you." The sorcerer clapped two of his hands, his back eyes glancing towards the doorway. “I’ll make sure to come by tomorrow…”

Susie giggled. “Not if I find you first, Bowler~” She teased.

Her statement caught Taranza by surprise. That was definitely a flirt. The fact that Susie rarely ever left her room made that obvious… 

Taranza chuckled, feeling his body grow ecstatic. “Night.”

Waving to Susie again, he left the room manually; opening the door and closing it behind him. Sighing again, he took notice of the flower he had dropped to enter the room.

Picking up the pink flower, he let a finger stroke a petal as his smile grew softer.

Susie had a bit of interest…

He wondered why- No… You just said you were going to work on those thoughts.

Taranza's smile faded, before coming back stronger than before.

He was going to wait before acting on that interest.

Nodding to himself, he floated away from the room, going towards his own room.

Like he had said, they both still needed to grieve. After all, these feelings Taranza had only stemmed because she so happened to have some similarities with Sectonia. Putting her on the pedestal and only thinking about how she was like Sectonia wasn’t fair to her at all. Not only that, but Susie needed to move on from her dad, like he needed to move on from Sectonia _and_ these thoughts of his. So, he would work on this grieving, and let Susie do the same. At the same time, he could also get to know Susie legitimately, so they could at least be friends first. And if he still was into her by then, and Susie still had that bit of interest.

Then maybe he could give it a shot.

He appeared at his room rather quickly, opening the door in. He let himself take a deep breath, before looking through all the pots he had, trying to find one that was empty.

Placing the flower into the vase, he stared at its pink color before untying the scarf from his neck. 

… Maybe things around here will be more than fine.

After all.

Taranza glanced at his handheld mirror, looking back at his reflection. It was nice seeing that smile on him for so long.

“She’s like me…” He chuckled. “Yet so… unlike me.”

Falling onto his cushioned bed, he stared at the nearest wall, so he couldn’t hurt his eyes on the back of his head. As they slowly drooped shut, he laughed again, feeling his heart rate only quicken.

“Like me, and unlike me...”

Surely, something as interesting as that would be worth waiting to be ready for.

...And hopefully, Susie might feel the same way.


End file.
